Former Brixton boss loses claim for unfair dismissal compensation

The former boss of property firm Brixton has lost his claim for compensation for unfair dismissal at an employment tribunal.

The tribunal rejected the claim by Tim Wheeler, former chief executive of Brixton, after it found he had been “effectively trying to hold the company to ransom” over a pension row.

But he was given a basic award of two weeks’ pay, equivalent to about £20,000, because there had been an “automatic technical breach” in the way he was dismissed, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The judge said compensation claims were rejected because “there was a 100% chance of fair dismissal if there had been a fair procedure”.

Former directors at Brixton claimed that, following the board’s rejection of Wheeler’s demand for an extra £1.88m on top of his pension to retire, the chief executive hindered work on a vital rights issue.

The chairman of Brixton, Lady Patten, alleged Wheeler threatened “guerrilla war” against non-executive directors and went on holiday to Japan while the company prepared a rights issue.

The judge found Wheeler had “pursued the issue of his pension package with single-minded determination”.

Wheeler left Brixton in March 2009 and after the company failed to get a rights issue away it was bought by rival Segro for £107m in August last year.